Fast and Easy Low-Fat Brownies

Use your favorite brownie mix to go from zero to brownies in 20 minutes.  This recipe adapts a store-bought, oven-cooked mix to make moist, low-fat brownies that take five minutes to cook in your microwave.  Substituting fatty oils with applesauce, you can enjoy healthy brownies without sacrificing that chocolaty taste you love!  It's so easy a college student can do it.

Total Time: 20 minutes
Preparation:10 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Cooling, Cutting and Cleanup: 5 minutes

You only need three ingredients:

Ingredients:
1.  Brownie Mix: Any box of your favorite brand (*optional: use a sugar-free brownie mix for a low-calorie option)
2.  Egg(s): Use number directed on the box (*optional: substitute 1/4 cup of egg whites per egg for a fat-free option)
3.  Applesauce: About 1 cup depending on the amount of oil required for your mix (*optional: use a no-sugar added brand)

Optional:
Nuts: Give your soft brownies a little crunch
Frosting: For an extra sinful brownie

Cooking Items:
1.  1 Mixing Bowl
2.  1 Plate: Large, deep (at least 3/4 in.), microwaveable; paper, plastic, glass, or ceramic, but not metal; must freely rotate in microwave
3.  1 Microwave: With turntable; Note: It is extremely important that the batter can rotate freely to ensure even cooking
4.  1 Measuring Cup: 1/2 cup or 1 cup will do
5.  1 Spoon: For mixing and pouring batter
6.  1 Knife: For testing while cooking, and cutting when finished
7.  Napkins for serving and cleanup

Step 1: Calculate Ingredients

1.  Applesauce: Look on the back of the brownie mix box at the list of ingredients. Substitute the oil and water with applesauce.

Important! The amount of applesauce you need is twice the amount of oil in the recipe .  Do not add oil or water to the mix.

For example, our box called for 1/2 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of water, so we replaced them both with 1 cup of applesauce (2 x 1/2 cup oil = 1 cup applesauce).  The subtle taste of the applesauce will not change the chocolate brownie flavor you love.

Do not add water, because the applesauce already contains enough.  Adding more water may cause the brownies to come out too gooey.


2. Egg(s) : Use the recommended number of eggs (adding more may produce poor cooking results in the microwave).


Note :  Do not adjust the recipe for high altitudes (3500 ft+).  We cooked our brownies in the microwave at an elevation of 4,600 feet without following the high-altitude directions on the box, and they came out just great.  For simplicity, try this recipe with the standard directions on the box using only applesauce and eggs  and see how they come out before attempting to follow the high-altitude directions.

Comments

[scoochmaroo]

Great idea!

[LadyDietlmeier]

What a great idea...
I never thought the applesauce part would work, but it does...
....genius (:

[cairparavel]

I wondered if you could replace whole eggs with just whites, or something like "egg beaters" has anyone ever tried that?

[gemmaflower]

So yammy.

[iweld]

Instead of applesauce, you can also use yogurt!
Follow the directions with the eggs and water as normal, but replace the amount of oil with the same amount of yogurt (flavored or unflavored) and they turn out great in the microwave. More fudge-like and less cake-like than with applesauce.

[iweld]

Delicious! I was skeptical about cooking a batch of brownies in the microwave, but they turned out very spongy and moist!

I couldn't even tell they were made with applesauce.

I love that I can use any brownie mix I'd like and it only took me 15 minutes.

[Wworld]

I'm glad you like them!

[thingy]

I add applesauce or pumpkin all the time in place of oil.

To replace the eggs i use non-fat yogurt.

The consistency is a little different but the kids still love them and they are fat free.